Frampton defeats Gonzalez Jr; Arreola-Kassi ends in draw

By Boxing News - 07/18/2015 - Comments

Carl Frampton vs Alejandro Gonzalez jr(Photo credit: Esther Lin/CBS) By Scott Gilfoid: In what has to be seen as a disappointing performance, IBF super bantamweight champion Carl “The Jackal” Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs) had to get up off the deck twice in the 1st round to come back to defeated 22-year-old #13 IBF fringe contender Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. (25-2-2, 15 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday afternoon in a fight on Premier Boxing Champions on CBS from the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.

Frampton was knocked down by a left to the head in the 1st round. It looked like a balance issue with Gonzalez Jr. spearing the shorter 5’4” with a left hand to knock him down. But moments later, Gonzalez Jr. nailed Frampton with a huge chopping right hand that put him down for the second time in the round.

There was no disputing the knockdown. It was a clean knockdown. Frampton was getting really low to try and go on attack, the much taller 5’6” Gonzalez Jr. chopped down on him with a right hand that drove Frampton into the canvas like a hammer hitting a nail.

To show that his knockdowns weren’t just a fluke thing, Gonzalez Jr. hurt Frampton in the 9th round with a big right hand that paralyzed the Irish fighter for a second. Frampton Jr. looked like he’d temporarily lost his senses after getting nailed by the shot. He’d been moving before the punch landed, but after he was hit, he stopped moving completely and just froze up. If Gonzalez Jr. had been wise enough to continue to throw punches, he might have knocked Frampton out cold, but he failed to go on the attack.

The final judges’ scores were 115-109, 116-108, and 116-108.

“I didn’t feel great in the first round. I got up from two flash knockdowns though and recovered well,” Frampton said. “The kid could punch very well. The ring canvas was very soft. I couldn’t get up on my toes and that’s my best attribute. I got up and showed courage. I came back and won most of the rounds and gave excitement. I wanted to win by knockout. It didn’t happen. I’m disappointed, but I’ll re-evaluate and move on; onwards and upwards. He hit me low so many times, but you’ve got to deal with that and carry on and that’s what I did.”

Frampton complained all night long about Gonzalez Jr. hitting him low, resulting in Gonzalez Jr. losing points in the 3rd and 11th rounds. In looking at the low blows, many of them were belt line shots. However, Frampton would immediately stop fighting each time he was hit on the belt and he would hold his arms out to play to the referee in what looked like attempts at getting points taken off. Instead of the referee realizing that he was being played by Frampton, he took off two points from Gonzalez Jr. for mostly belt line shots.

“I definitely won the fight, I was much more effective,” said Gonzalez. “I want a rematch and I’m happy to do it in his hometown. I’ll take whatever fights are best for me either at 118 or 122. The ref overreacted to the low blows, I was just doing my body work,” Gonzalez continued. “I’m not a dirty fighter, I play by the rules and this was disappointing. He’s a good fighter but I’m the best he’s ever faced.”

I hope Gonzalez isn’t holding his breath waiting on a rematch, because I don’t see it happening in this lifetime. Frampton is now going to try and get fights against the likes of Scott Quigg, Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz and Gary Russell Jr.

Interestingly enough, the referee didn’t do anything about policing Frampton’s constant head-locks he was putting Gonzalez Jr. in. Given all the head-locks Frampton initiated, I think the referee should have taken off at least one point. I figured that Frampton’s fouls evened out any of the low blows that Gonzalez Jr. landed in the fight.

All in all, it was a pretty poor performance by Frampton. He won the fight, but it should have been a total wipeout given the quality of fighter he was in the ring with. Had this been someone dangerous like Guillermo Rigondeaux, Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz or Nonito Donaire, I think Frampton would have been beaten. WBA champion Scott Quigg looked a lot better tonight in destroying Kiko Martinez by a 2nd round knockout.

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Former two time heavyweight world title challenger Chris Arreola (36-4-1, 31 KOs) may have lost his chance for a world title shot against Deontay Wilder by fighting to a 10 round draw against Fred Kassi (18-3-1, 10 KOs). The final judges’ scores were 96-94 for Arreola, and 95-95, 95-95. Kassi landed the cleaner shots all night long. However, Arreola was the busier fighter.

There’s still a chance that Arreola can get a title shot against Wilder on September 26th, but obviously this isn’t the ideal performance that Arreola was looking for in order to get the fight.

“It was a good decision. It was just a tough fight. Fred came to fight and he’s a survivor. He held right, he moved right. He came here with a good strategy and he got a draw out of it.

“Personally, I don’t think so (did enough to earn a fight with Deontay Wilder),” Arreola said after the fight. “But I know if I get Deontay I’d be in much better shape and a lot better prepared. Not that I wasn’t prepared for Kassi, but he came here with a good fight and was prepared.”

Personally, I saw no improvement in Arreola’s performance from his loss to Bermane Stiverne last year. If it had been Stiverne in the ring with Arreola tonight instead of the limited Kassi, Arreola would have likely been knocked out. Arreola did not look good at all.

“No, I’m not happy with it (the decision). I feel like I won the fight,” Kassi said after the fight. “I won every round pretty much. I made him miss. I showed today I was the better fighter. I don’t take anything away from Chris, I’ve been a fan of him for many years. I just want to show the world what I can do.”

Other boxing results on the card:

Josh Taylor TKO 2 Archie Weah
Justin DeLoach UD 6 Rick Graham
Conrad Cummings TKO 2 Oscar Riojas



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